Murder on St. Mark's Place

by Victoria Thompson

  Sarah could only stare. She seemed paralyzed with her horror. It was just as she’d imagined when she and Malloy had been trying to figure out what had happened. She felt no satisfaction, though. How could she take pride in having guessed such an awful truth?

  “After that, I hit all of them. Each time I hurt them worse. I was trying to experience that surge of power I’d felt the first time, but it became more difficult each time. I had to hit them harder and more often. I had to beat them until they begged for mercy, and finally I hit one of them until she stopped begging at all. I didn’t know she was dead at the time. I just thought she was senseless. Then I saw something about her in one of the newspapers a few days later. They’d found her body.”

  “Dirk, if you’re just trying to frighten me—”

  “I think I’m doing more than trying, aren’t I?” he asked confidently. “It’s nice to see you at a disadvantage for once, Sarah. I knew I could manage that, given the appropriate opportunity.”

  She’d been trying to convince herself he was making it all up just to terrify her. How could anyone speak of these horrors so matter-of-factly? But now she understood. He’d really committed these murders, and for some reason he wanted her to know all about it. “So after that first time,” she guessed, “you killed the next girl on purpose.”

  “Of course I did. How could I do less? There was no going back after that, Sarah. And nothing else would appease me. I can’t describe to you the pleasure of feeling their flesh and bones breaking beneath my fists. There’s nothing else like it.”

  His eyes shone with a light that she might, under other circumstances, have described as divine. Indeed, he looked transported.

  She cringed away from him as far as the confines of the car would allow, which wasn’t far. She tried to reason, tried to find an escape from the truth.

  “But you told me about Tim Vandervort and the party!” she remembered. “You couldn’t have killed Gerda.”

  “Don’t you understand?” he asked with a sneer. “That’s the irony here. You started out looking for the man who killed this Gerda and then found out about the other girls who’d been killed. I killed the other girls, but I didn’t kill this Gerda. I might have. I was considering it. She would probably have been next, but someone else beat me to it.”

  The car lurched again, and they rose higher into the summer sky.

  “And what about Lisle? You couldn’t have killed her either.” At least her conscience would be spared this agony.

  “Oh, but I could. And I did. I had to, you see. She was one of my failures. That happened sometimes. I could usually judge which ones would put up a fight, but Lisle surprised me. She looked so fragile, I never expected—”

  “But why go back and kill her later if you didn’t kill Gerda?” Sarah cried, horror choking her.

  “Because she might have remembered what happened between us and made the connection with the other murders. I had an alibi for Gerda’s death, but not for the others. If your detective had suspected me, I would have had to answer some difficult questions. Ordinarily, I’d think a decent-sized bribe would get me out of trouble with the police, but I don’t think I can offer the one thing that might appease this Malloy. His lust for you makes him very dangerous indeed.”

  “Dirk, you shouldn’t have told me all this.”

  “Why not, Sarah?” he asked, as if he really didn’t know.

  “Because I have no choice but to tell Detective Sergeant Malloy. Surely, you must know that. I can’t allow you to kill anyone else.”

  He waited until the car had moved again, bringing them to a stop at the very top of the wheel. “Don’t worry, Sarah. You won’t have to tell Mr. Malloy anything, because you’re going to have a terrible accident, and you won’t be able to tell anyone anything ever again.”

  13

  SARAH LOOKED DOWN FROM HER PERCH AT the top of the Ferris wheel. The view indeed was breathtaking. She couldn’t seem to breathe at all. Somewhere below, Malloy would be watching, but even if she could signal him somehow, there was nothing he could do to help her. She must save herself.

  “Dirk,” she tried, amazed that she could speak at all. “You don’t have to hurt me. Surely you know that wealthy people don’t go to prison. Your father will hire the best attorneys for you. No jury will ever believe a man like you could be capable of committing murder.” The words almost gagged her, but unfortunately, she also knew they could well be true. Justice might be blind, but she wasn’t above accepting a bribe.

  “But I’d have to stop killing women, Sarah,” he pointed out, his voice so calm and reasonable, it turned her blood to ice. “And I’d be a social outcast. No one would see me. What kind of life would I have?”

  “What kind of life will you have if you kill me in front of thousands of people?” she argued.

  “I’m not going to kill you, Sarah,” he said, giving the gate she still clutched a sharp tug that pulled it loose from the latch that held it closed. “I told you, you’re going to have a tragic accident.”

  “No!” she cried, fighting him for control of the gate. But before she could stop him, he’d flung it out straight, far beyond her reach, and they sat there, a hundred feet above the park, with nothing but air between them and the ground.

  “You’re terribly distraught, Sarah,” he told her, his voice so calm he might have been discussing the weather. “You are desperate to remarry, but I told you that you must stop pursuing me. I have no interest in you, and you’re making a fool of yourself. I have no intention of marrying you, and the news caused you to fling yourself off the Ferris wheel to your death.”

  He grabbed her by the arms. He was strong, much stronger than she, but she held on to the sides of the car fiercely as he tried to pry her loose.

  “You’ll never get away with it, Dirk! Malloy is down there! He’s watching everything! He’ll know what happened !”

  “You’re lying,” he reminded her. “He doesn’t even know we’re here.”

  “No, it’s true! He’s been following us since we got here! There was a policeman on the trolley, too! Someone’s been watching us the whole time we’ve been together!”

  “There’s no one here now, Sarah.”

  He’d pulled one of her hands loose and was using her arm to drag her off the seat, but she’d braced her feet, and he couldn’t budge her.

  “Don’t do this, Dirk!” she begged as he reached down and slid his arm beneath her knees. He was going to lift her off the seat! If he did that, she’d be helpless. All he’d have to do was toss her over, and she’d be lost.

  As he lifted her legs, releasing the hold her feet had on the floor of the car, she kicked up and the toe of her shoe struck him soundly on the side of his head. He cursed her, rearing back and dropping her legs. The look in his eyes was wild, like an animal cornered and ready to fight for its life. Sarah imagined her eyes must look the same as she screamed Malloy’s name in some vain hope he might be able to do something.

  Dirk sneered at her. “It’s over now, Sarah,” he said, and drew back his fist.

  Everything seemed to move slowly, as if they were underwater. She saw Dirk’s fist coming toward her, and she knew that when he struck her, she would be helpless. Stunned, she couldn’t resist when he threw her out of the car. Some primal instinct responded, and without thinking, she ducked her head, bending nearly double in the last second before his fist would have slammed into her cheek. In that same instant the whole world jolted, nearly unseating her from the car. If she hadn’t been holding on for dear life, she might very well have gone tumbling to the ground.

  Dirk’s cry was a shriek of terror as his body kept going, following his swinging arm, carrying him out of the car into oblivion. Sarah’s instinct was to catch him, but her hands clutched only thin air, and she very nearly fell herself as the car reacted to the loss of Dirk’s weight by swinging violently. Only then did she realize the wheel was moving. The lurch of the start, coming just as he was swinging to hit her, was what
had unseated Dirk and sent him toppling from the car.

  Seconds later she heard the sickening thud as his body struck the ground beneath the wheel, and the crowd’s anguished reaction. Sarah clasped the side and back of the car, hanging on for her life as the wheel came to another precipitous halt that set her car rocking madly. But someone was yelling down below, giving orders. She recognized the voice, even from way up here near the top of the wheel, and in another moment it started again, lurching like a drunk before falling into the smooth rhythm of the usual ride. It didn’t stop until Sarah’s car was on the loading platform.

  Malloy was there. She almost didn’t recognize him because of the ridiculous beard he was wearing, but she knew his voice and responded when he told her to let go, she was safe now. Even still, he practically had to pry her hands loose to get her out.

  Only when her feet were firmly planted on solid ground was she able to comprehend what had happened. And what had almost happened.

  “Are you all right?” Malloy asked. His arm was around her waist, supporting her as he led her away from the wheel.

  “Where is he?” she demanded. “I want to see him.”

  “He’s dead,” Malloy said.

  But another voice called, “He’s still alive! Somebody get a doctor!”

  The words rejuvenated her. All weakness and terror evaporated. She broke from Malloy’s grasp and whirled, searching for the voice. “I’m a nurse!” she called.

  Picking up her skirts, she ran back the way she’d come, dodging the descending cars that the ride operator was emptying as quickly as he could.

  Dirk’s body lay in the barren, rocky area beneath the wheel, which was barely high enough for a man to stand upright. Several men had gathered around him, but no one was doing anything. Probably they were afraid to touch him, and she could guess why. She could tell from the angle at which he lay that his back was broken. He wasn’t moving, and his breathing was shallow. He was probably going into shock, which would be a mercy. The pain from his injuries must be excruciating. If he could feel anything at all, that is.

  “Are you Sarah?” one of the men asked as she approached.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “He’s asking for you.”

  The men stood aside for her. Dirk’s face was twisted and gray, his scalp bloody from a gash. His lips were moving, but she couldn’t hear his words. She knelt beside him, anxious to hear what his last words would be. Would he confess and clear his conscience? She wanted to hear him admit he’d killed Gerda, too, and then this nightmare would be over.

  But when she leaned close, he said, “You are another of my mistakes. I can usually tell when they’re going to fight back. I thought I was ready for you.”

  “The wheel started moving,” she said. “It unbalanced you.”

  “I told them to get you down.” It was Malloy, standing over them. She’d known he wouldn’t be far away. “I saw he was trying to throw you off.”

  She cast him a grateful glance. There would be time for proper thanks later. She turned back to Dirk. “Tell me the truth about Gerda, Dirk. At least you’ll die with a clear conscience.”

  His lips curved into a grotesque parody of a smile. “I didn’t kill her, Sarah. You’ll have to keep looking.”

  She heard Malloy’s reaction, but she didn’t want to waste time filling him in on the whole truth. She had only a few more minutes with Dirk. “Why did you do it, Dirk? Why did you kill the others?”

  His smile became a grimace. “Because I could,” he said simply.

  “Get back, step back.” The command came from an officious-looking fellow in a bowler hat and a plaid shirt with sleeve garters. He was followed by two men carrying a stretcher. “Out of the way, miss. We’ve got to take him to a doctor.”

  “If you move him, he’ll die,” Sarah protested.

  “If we don’t move him, he’ll die, too,” the fellow said reasonably. “Better he shouldn’t die in front of all these people.”

  “Don’t touch me!” Dirk protested in alarm when the two men laid the stretcher down beside him.

  “It’s all right, mister. We’re going to get you some help,” one of them said.

  The expression on Dirk’s face was naked terror, the kind Sarah had felt moments before when she had been certain Dirk was going to throw her to her death.

  “This is how those women felt, Schyler,” Malloy said to him. “Think about that. The pain and the fear. It isn’t pleasant, is it?”

  Dirk didn’t reply because the men were lifting him on the stretcher, and he was screaming in agony. Sarah instinctively moved to help him—although she had no idea how she might have accomplished that—but Malloy held her back as the men carried Dirk away.

  “Are you all right, miss?” the short man in the sleeve garters asked. “Did you get hurt at all?”

  Sarah hadn’t even considered whether she had or not. “I don’t think so. I was just frightened.”

  “How did it happen?” he asked. “I’m the park manager,” he added, in case she thought he was just being nosy.

  Sarah thought quickly. She’d have to explain this to many people, Dirk’s family included. She glanced at Malloy. His expression was grave, but he offered no suggestions. “It was a terrible accident,” she said, sickeningly aware that she was quoting Dirk. She didn’t look at Malloy again. If he disapproved, she would never be able to lie convincingly. “Mr. Schyler was acting silly, trying to frighten me, I think. He had an odd sense of humor. The gate came loose and flew open, and just as he tried to reach for it to pull it back, the wheel started to move, and he lost his balance.”

  “You sure he didn’t jump on purpose? A lot of them does, you know,” the man said by way of apology for asking.

  “If he’d wanted to commit suicide, he hardly would’ve taken a lady up to accompany him, now would he?” Malloy pointed out.

  “I suppose not,” the man allowed. “I just don’t want nobody telling the newspapers he jumped. It gives all the crazy ones ideas. Gives the park a bad name, too.”

  “No one will say he jumped,” Sarah assured him.

  The man sighed. “Is he your husband or something?”

  “Just a family friend,” Sarah said. “I should go with him, though. Where are they taking him?”

  “To a doctor down on Surf Avenue.”

  “I’ll take her,” Malloy said. “How do we get there?”

  The park manager had one of his men drive them in a park wagon. As they made their way through the crowded streets, Sarah thought of Dirk’s broken body being subjected to the jostling of a wagon ride, and winced. Malloy would say it was no more than he deserved, and Sarah knew he was probably right. Still, the thought of anyone suffering so horribly sickened her.

  “What were you thinking to go up on the Ferris wheel with him?” Malloy demanded as the wagon jounced along. He sounded angry.

  “I was thinking we would have a lovely ride,” she replied defensively. “He’d managed to convince me he was innocent, you see.”

  “You confronted him?” Malloy was incredulous.

  “I’m not sure you’d call it that, exactly. We were talking, and I let him know that all the murdered girls knew a man named Will and that we knew he was that man.”

  “Did you think he’d just break down bawling and beg you to absolve him?” He was angry again.

  “No,” she said, becoming annoyed. “I thought he’d get angry and betray himself.”

  “But he didn’t.”

  Sarah sighed over her own nalvete. “He was much too clever for me. He asked me the date of Gerda’s murder, and he had an alibi for it, one we could easily check.”

  “You couldn’t have checked it if you were dead,” he pointed out. “Which is exactly what he had planned. Didn’t it ever occur to you that he was lying through his teeth just to get you to let down your guard?”

  “Of course it didn’t, or I wouldn’t have gone on the Ferris wheel with him!” she snapped. It occurred to Sarah that they we
re probably giving the driver enough gossip for the rest of the season, but she couldn’t help that.

  Malloy frowned inside the awful-looking beard. “But you did get him to confess, finally?”

  “Yes, I think ... I think he wanted to brag. He must have wanted someone to know about his successes, even if I’d only know for a few moments before he killed me. He said he’d killed the other girls. And Lisle. I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life. But he swears he didn’t kill Gerda. That was the one he had the alibi for.”

  “Probably he was lying. He knew that was the one you cared most about. He was just trying to torment you.”

  “I cared about Lisle, too, but he readily confessed to killing her. No, I’m afraid he might be telling the truth. He said he was at a party with a group of men. They’ll be able to tell us if he was or not. Then we’ll know for sure.”

  Malloy sighed his disgust. They rode in silence for another block before he said, “Are you going to be all right? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

  Malloy’s concern was gruff but sincere. It almost undid her. “He was going to throw me off the Ferris wheel, Malloy ! In front of all those people.”

  “He might’ve managed to convince everyone it was an accident, too. Nobody would believe he’d do something so brazen. Would your family have wanted an investigation?”

  “Certainly not,” she said, knowing it was true. They would have mourned her for the rest of their lives, but they never would have been able to accept that her death had been anything but mischance. They wouldn’t be able to believe someone like Dirk, a gentleman of their own class, capable of a heinous crime. “And the worst part is, he would’ve been free to keep on killing.”

  “Didn’t you tell him I was watching?” Malloy wasn’t going to let this alone.

  “He ... he thought I was lying.”

  Mercifully, Malloy didn’t question her further on that point. She didn’t want to have to admit she’d let Dirk believe she was unprotected.